622 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



An antidote which has proved effective is a pint or two of melted 

 lard poured down the animal's throat. The relief is very prompt. 

 But it must be given before the horse loses control of his limbs, or it 

 cannot be administered at all. The relief is so prompt and complete 

 that it is difficult to believe that it is the direct effect of the lard on the 

 nerve centres, but as a local emollient applied directly to the burning 

 throat and stomach. The local trouble being quickly relieved, the 

 violent reflex effect on the nervous system suddenly ceases. 



When we consider the wide distribution of this plant and that 

 in some places it is so abundant as to hide the earth from view over 

 whole acres, it is remarkable that so few poisonings occur. But 

 animals have no special fondness for it. When they have been long 

 on the road and deprived of green food, stopping where this weed is 

 found and other green plants scarce, they are disposed to eat a little 

 of it. It is under such conditions that the plant is most frequently 

 eaten and the poisoning occurs. 



Animals, notably sneep, once intoxicated by the plant and 

 recovering, seem to acquire a mania for it, and when finding them- 

 selves in localities where it grows, hurry to and devour it. 



Woody Aster. During the past several years thousands of sheep 

 have died in Wyoming through what is supposed to have been the 

 eating of poisonous plants on the range. For the last two or three 

 seasons the losses have occurred, in many instances, in localities 

 where previous losses had been noted, and where a certain plant that 

 later came to be suspected as poisonous was found in enormous num- 

 bers. Several different plants have at times been suspected by stock 

 owners, and until very recently the private opinion of those who have 

 ranged stock was the only evidence on which one could base a conclu- 

 sion as to the nature of the trouble. Under these conditions very little 

 has as yet been done in the way of determining the plant or plants 

 involved, the symptoms produced, etc., all of which must receive care- 

 ful attention before it will be possible to deal with the question 

 satisfactorily. 



A plant commonly known as Woody Aster, which was very 

 abundant in those areas designated by the sheepmen as Poison 

 Patches, has been suspected. It is interesting to note in this connec- 

 tion that sheep commonly refuse to eat this plant on the range when 

 other forage is available, and that poisoning usually occurs either 

 when the hungry animals are driven, after shearing, directly across 

 the Aster patches, or where, for some reason, immediately after a rain 

 or snow storm they purposely eat it. It is under one of these condi- 

 tions that the most severe losses have occurred. 



The plant in question is confined to certain districts character- 

 ized by a gumbo clay soil, more or less intermixed with gravel and 

 containing more or less of alkali and other salts. It is a soil in which 

 only the various kinds of alkali-loving plants, such as pig weeds, salt- 

 bushes, grease- woods, and this Aster thrive. A fact of interest in this 

 connection is that this particular plant is not only confined to this 

 type of soil, but Wyoming is the center of its distribution. Perhaps 

 more singular yet is the fact that the Aster is almost invariably 



